Field Service Representative

Field Service Representative (FSR) Industry: Defense robotics / autonomous ground systems Company: Venture-backed defense robotics company building autonomous ground vehicle platforms for U.S. and allied customers. East Coast HQ (Clarksburg, Maryland), with additional test ranges in the Mountain West (Idaho) and Appalachia. Location: Clarksburg, Maryland HQ strongly preferred. Idaho and Appalachian test sites also workable. Remote considered for the right person, with the understanding that ramp will pull you to HQ and the hardware frequently. Compensation: $90,000–$120,000 base, plus equity for every employee. Year-end bonuses are typically paid in equity rather than cash. Additional hazard pay applies for deployments to high-risk zones. Travel: ~75% today, with the goal of reducing it as the team scales. About the Client A venture-backed robotics company building autonomous ground vehicle systems for defense customers. What we sell is a fully integrated system — autonomy software, operator-control software, comms and networking, and mission payloads, riding on hardware we design and build. Programs are moving out of the lab and into operator hands fast, and our customers are unusually willing to adopt new capability the moment it ships. That's exactly where this role lives. About the Role Field Service Representatives are the hands that keep our systems running in the field. You deploy with integrated robotic ground systems, keep them mission-ready, train the operators who use them, and are the steady, trusted presence customers rely on when they're out on the range or forward deployed. You know how to turn a wrench and read a screen — vehicle repair and maintenance is a real part of the day, and so is working through a networking or comms hiccup, logging into a system to pull logs, and walking an operator through a new capability. This is a maintainer-first field role. You are not expected to be a software or embedded engineer — that's our Forward Deployed Engineer seat. You are expected to be genuinely technical, mechanically strong, coachable on our systems, and the kind of person units in the field want around. Responsibilities Deploy with integrated robotic ground systems to customer test sites, training centers, and forward operating locations. Perform hands-on vehicle repair, maintenance, and system upgrades in the field — often in conditions the manuals don't cover, because the manuals may not exist yet. Troubleshoot the practical stuff: swap components, trace a cable, work through networking and comms issues, log into a system and pull logs, and get the customer back up and running. Train and support customer operators on the system and on new capabilities as they ship. Feed clean information back to the engineering team — what broke, what you saw, what the customer needs — so problems get fixed once, not over and over. Build trust with the units you support. Half of this job is being the person customers want on site when conditions are bad and the mission still has to happen. Where You'll Go Stateside training and test sites: Fort Drum, Fort Bragg, Fort Polk, NTC / Fort Irwin, 29 Palms, Camp Lejeune, White Sands, Aberdeen, Grayling (MI), among others. Forward deployed: active overseas program supporting an allied partner in Eastern Europe with system upgrades, repairs, and field maintenance. This is currently the highest-priority deployment need. Personnel operate behind the front, not on it. Where You'll Be Based Clarksburg, Maryland is the engineering and hardware center of gravity and the strong preference — it's where the vehicles are built and where ramp happens fastest. Idaho (test range) and the Appalachian test site are also workable. Remote is possible for the right person, with the understanding that home time gets eaten by HQ visits during ramp. Requirements Must-Haves Hands-on technical field experience. A track record keeping complex hardware running in the field — vehicle/mechanical maintenance and repair, plus enough comfort with networking, comms, and basic software/CLI work to troubleshoot a system, not just a chassis. Field-service or military-maintainer DNA. You've done this kind of work before: as an FSR, a military maintainer/operator, or in a customer-facing field role supporting technical equipment. Genuine appetite for travel. ~75% on the road, including extended stays at military training sites and overseas deployments. Candidates who want 10–20% travel are not a fit, no matter how strong the resume. Comfort with Type 2 fun. Cold, wet, muddy days kneeling next to a vehicle in the rain are a normal part of the job. Mission orientation. You care about the user and the outcome, and it shows in how you work with customers when timelines are tight and conditions are bad. Bias to action. Top performers learn the system, the mission, and the user, then start catching and fixing problems on their own. Nice-to-Haves Military background. A strong positive signal for mission fluency, field discipline, and the ability to earn trust with the units we support. Not required — strong non-veteran candidates with deep field-service experience are equally welcome. Prior field-service experience on ground vehicles, robotics, unmanned systems, or comms/networking gear. Exposure to autonomy, robotics, or unmanned systems in any capacity. Experience supporting emerging tech in operational hands (e.g., time around DEVCOM elements, DIU, or service-level innovation offices). Comfort at the command line and with basic networking — a real differentiator that opens the door toward the FDE track over time. Compensation & Benefits Base: $90,000–$120,000. Equity for every employee, top to bottom. New-hire grants vest over 4 years. Year-end bonuses are typically structured as equity (1-year vest) rather than cash, so total comp upside is tied directly to company performance. Hazard pay for deployments to high-risk zones: $150 / day on the ground, $750 bonus at 3 consecutive weeks, $250 / additional week thereafter. Applies company-wide. What Success Looks Like at Six Months You've learned the system, the mission, and the user. Customers in the field ask for you by name. Systems stay mission-ready because you keep them that way, you catch problems before they become incidents, and you push clean, useful signal back to engineering. You're the steady presence that makes the whole deployment work. What This Role Is NOT Desk-only or depot-only maintainers who don't want to travel or be in the field. Candidates who want 10–20% travel. Deep embedded / software engineers whose center of gravity is writing code — that's the Forward Deployed Engineer seat, a different role and band. Hiring Process Recruiter screen with the company's TA team after we submit your profile. 30–45 minute phone screen with the hiring team. On-site interview at the Clarksburg, Maryland HQ — see the tech, meet the team (virtual panel available when travel can't work for a strong candidate). Roundtable decision. Typical timeline is one phone screen, sometimes two, before the on-site or virtual panel.